Small businesses that qualified for federal COVID-19 relief aid continue to see the funds delayed as the result of a May Tennessee court ruling that found the Small Business Administration’s racial and gender-based priority categories were unconstitutional.
Some, including Syovata Edari, owner of CocoVaa on East Washington Avenue in Madison, recently were informed they might never see the funds they qualified for, according to an article in The Capital Times. Edari had applied for relief funds on May 17 and within two weeks was told she qualified and would receive $50,000 in three to seven business days.
The funds have yet to arrive as the controversy over race-based priorities remains in the courts. Funds to reimburse food businesses and bars were originally made available as part of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund in March. Congress established a three-week window for approving only applications from business owners who self-identified as women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged.
However, white business owners filed three legal challenges to the race-based priorities, and all three courts have ruled in their favor and two courts issued injunctions preventing the SBA from distributing the funds.
